The exhibition is created as a special project for Riga, initiated and sponsored by the Riga-born businessman and patron of the arts, Leon Zilber.

Today's focus is on Marik Lechner.

Marik Lechner is a Ukraine-born Israeli painter who graduated from HaMidrasha School of Art in 2001. He has had solo shows at the Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Givon Gallery and Rosenfeld Gallery in Tel-Aviv, Martin Gropius Bau in Berlin, 14 Dioptrien in Hamburg, and elsewhere.

Nim Triangle, 2016. Oil on canvas, 113 x 130

What are the main topics that you deal with in your art?

It is a kind of circle of things that intuitively come into and out of my life. If it is something personal that bothers me, in the sense of causing anxiety or eliciting in me a passion for a certain kind of aesthetic, then it comes out as a painting or as an image, or as a color, form, or shape. It is a thing that symbolizes the state of mind in the moment. I live and I work in my studio. Everything that comes into my daily life probably influences my work. There isn’t much difference between my painting and my life. It is a little bit absolute. It can be beautiful and romantic, but it can also be annoying and dangerous. So, the topic of my art is life itself.

How do you see the role of an artist today?

I don’t believe there is a role. Art should bring good things into people’s lives – like compassion, generosity, or to help people form an interest in different topics. I don’t believe that art can change someone’s life. Only really strange books can change a life – like Mein Kampf or The Bible. However, art has only a slight impact on people’s political thinking. It would be a little naive to think that somebody might change his/her ideology because of art. The role of art is to bring about change, to record what is happening, and to bring this to people. It can contain certain visual or intellectual ideas, but I don’t believe it should be necessarily moralistic, and I don’t believe it should be populistic. If it is good art, it has more responsibility. In any case, it should just be honest, and not cynical or too sarcastic. You should just look to the world that is directly in front of you. Don’t look too far away – look to your friends, your family, your love, your dog. The role of art is not to be blind. It is to be awake!

Untitled (time), 2017. Oil on canvas, 360 x 180

What would be the perfect or ideal world for you?

I don’t think I would want to live in a perfect world because most of the things that are truly beautiful are not perfect. Even if it would be perfect, I don’t think it would be for me. Because I’m not perfect. I love mistakes; I love people who are just people; I love things that are just things. It is very dangerous if a perfect world is attained. It quickly becomes destructive.